Cross country skiing has become accepted as a preferred form of exercise. However, it is not readily available and certainly not on a regular basis, to a large percent of the population having an interest in this form of exercise. Applicant's device for home use is intended to simulate this popular form of exercise and recreation.
In cross country skiing, the skier attaches skis to his feet which are propelled along the snow covered ground in a shuffling motion. One of the skiers feet are moved forward and planted as the other foot is drawn rearward. The action is then reversed and so on.
To assist the user (and also for balancing) the skier uses ski poles that are spiked into the ground first on one side and then the other side of the skier as the skier progresses forwardly.
It will be appreciated that the forces that come into play in resisting cross country skiing movement can vary from person to person i.e. by the use of more or less pulling power on the poles and inversely, more or less leg power on the skis. A device simulating cross country skiing for home use, should be adjustable to adapt the device to the user's perference of leg power versus arm power, and it should be capable of simulating the motion of rapid forward movement while remaining stationary, i.e., it should give the impression of movement.
The effect of ski pole movemetn is duplicated quite satisfactorily by providing a pivoted pole that adjustably resists (but does not prevent) pivoting in one direction. The resistance is provided by hydraulic cylinders. With a pole at each side, the user alternately pushes the poles forward with little effort (similar to moving a pole forward and spiking it at a forward position during actual cross country skiing) and then with effort (against the hydraulic pressure) pulls the pole back to the start up position.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide the mechanism that simulates the shuffling feet.